Posted By Bobby Eberle On May 15, 2009 at 7:27 am
See that all that dirt that's flying around? It's coming from the hole that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is digging for herself. From the moment Barack Obama decided to release CIA memos regarding the use of waterboarding, Pelosi has been vocal in expressing her shock and outrage. There is one problem... the more she talks, the more we learn that she knew about these techniques years ago.
Now, we see a classic example of a public official on the defensive... grasping at straws, trying to parse individual words to support her case, but getting in more trouble as she goes along. Much like the "outrage" expressed by Democrats regarding executive bonuses, Pelosi's reaction to the waterboarding memos was meant to stoke public anger. However, once again, the "outrage" was fake, and now she is being taken to task.
Last month, I wrote a column which discussed the information contained in CIA memos on interrogation that Obama decided to release to the public. The memos discussed waterboarding and the use of the technique on three al Qaeda leaders. The release of the memos was designed to make the Bush administration look bad and make the Obama administration look good. Instead, it has opened up a can of worms, especially for Pelosi.
She jumped on the bandwagon of criticism, denouncing waterboarding. But, she had known about it for years. As a member of the House Intelligence Committees back in 2002, she was briefed on the CIA techniques. Now, she is having to backtrack and is saying that the CIA misled her and Congress.
At her press conference this week, Pelosi was asked about briefings she attended while on the House Intelligence Committee, and she stumbles repeated to try to find the right words:
In her press statement released on Thursday, Pelosi said:
"I unequivocally oppose the use of torture by our government because it is contrary to our national values.
"The CIA briefed me only once on some enhanced interrogation techniques, in September 2002, in my capacity as Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee.
"I was informed then that Department of Justice opinions had concluded that the use of enhanced interrogation techniques was legal. The only mention of waterboarding at that briefing was that it was not being employed.
"Those conducting the briefing promised to inform the appropriate Members of Congress if that technique were to be used in the future.
Pelosi goes on to say, "We also now know that techniques, including waterboarding, had already been employed, and that those briefing me in September 2002 gave me inaccurate and incomplete information."
Inaccurate and incomplete information? As noted in the New York Times blog, the September 2002 briefing to which Pelosi refers was also attended by Republican Rep. Porter Goss. Goss wrote in the Wall Street: "I am slack jawed to read that members claim to have not understood that the techniques on which they were briefed were to actually be employed; or that specific techniques such as 'waterboarding' were never mentioned."
The CIA has also released records which counter Pelosi's claim of not knowing that waterboarding was being used:
According to the C.I.A. records, Ms. Pelosi attended the Sept. 4 briefing about the agency's interrogation techniques with her Republican counterpart, Representative Porter J. Goss of Florida. Based on agency notes from the briefing, the two lawmakers were told the specific techniques "that had been employed" on Abu Zubaydah.
CIA records and the accounts of others attending the briefings do not paint a good picture of the accuracy of Pelosi's defense.
Just as we saw with the bailout out bonuses, the Democrats are pros at holding press conferences and expressing outrage. Whether the outrage is genuine or not is not even a concern to them. However, it we keep speaking the truth and presenting the facts, hopefully, more and more Americans will listen. America deserves better leadership than this.
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